Page 129 of Lust & Lies

My head throbbed. This was nothing like the dream when I’d been watching from the sidelines. In that dream, I hadn’t been able to feel any of the emotions past me felt. In this dream, I could.

I lifted my hand to touch the side of my head. Blood. I was bleeding. Wait. I was upside down, and the seat belt was biting into my chest. I stretched my legs out as I unbuckled my seat belt. I needed to get out of the car.

My buckle came undone, and I dropped to the ceiling. Pain ricocheted over my body as I stared up at the floorboards.Yeah, we were upside down. I would have to try to get the door open.

“You okay back there?” the man asked.

He was talking to me now. But he wasn’t calling me Noelle. Was I Noelle? Or was the woman in the front seat Noelle? Who was Noelle?

“She’s fine,” the woman groaned, sounding in pain. “She’s been through worse. We need to get out before they return.”

They? Who were they? A sharp pain sliced through my head, making me dizzy. My eyes closed briefly. I fought to keep them open. I knew I needed to kick the rest of the glass out of the window and climb out.

I could smell gas. We didn’t have much time. But even as I thought that, I couldn’t make my body move. I felt myself being pulled under. However, I could still hear them talking.

“I’ve got you,” the man told her. “Come on. Hold on to me, Ellie.”

“Don’t let me fall,” she croaked.

“I won’t, baby.”

I could hear them moving around. I wanted to ask for help. I couldn’t say anything. Why couldn’t I say anything?

“Do you think Aiden tricked us? Was he behind this?” the man asked.

The woman sighed. “With Aiden, anything is possible. The man is just as cruel as his grandfather,” the woman answered. “I don’t trust him. He wants us dead. But right now he needs us, and as long as he needs us, he won’t...”

I wanted to hear more. Needed to hear more. But my head was hurting so damn badly. And I could feel blood trickling down the side of my face. I lost my battle against the darkness and was pulled under.

I woke in my own bed with light leaking into the room through the open blinds. I stared up at the ceiling, the memory of the accident still lingering in my mind.

“She’s awake,” a man stated.

My eyes widened when Dr. Mercer crouched over me. What the hell? I wasn’t in the hospital? What was he doing here? Movement to his left pulled my gaze in that direction. One of the nurses I’d seen at the hospital was standing beside him.

My gaze scanned the room. I was at the country estate. Aiden must’ve called the doctor and asked him to make a house call.Aiden. Fear threaded through my veins as I replayed the conversation from my memory in my mind.

“Do you think Aiden tricked us? Was he behind this?” the man asked.

“With Aiden, anything is possible. The man is just as cruel as his grandfather,” the woman answered. “I don’t trust him. He wants us dead.”

He wanted us dead. Had Aiden caused my accident?Impossible. He’d stayed by my side the entire time I’d been in the hospital. Or at least, that was what I’d been told...by them. My gaze swept to the doctor who was talking to me.

I wasn’t hearing anything he was saying. I was too busy trying to wrap my head around all the facts. We were at the country estate. Why had Dr. Mercer come way out here for Aiden? Were there no doctors who were closer that could’ve made a house call?

When Dr. Mercer touched my forehead, I swallowed, trying not to recoil. Why had Aiden brought me home instead of taking me to the hospital? Another memory from the accident filtered through my mind.

“I’ve got you,” the man told her. “Come on. Hold on to me, Ellie.”

“Don’t let me fall,” she croaked.

“I won’t, baby.”

Ellie! The man had called the woman Ellie. But he’d also called her Noelle. When he’d referred to me, he’d only said, hey you in the back seat or some shit. But the woman next to him, the woman he’d protected, he’d called her Noelle.Two Noelles. There couldn’t be two Noelles. Could there?

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Park?” Dr. Mercer asked.

Mrs. Park. Noelle Park. Was that me?